[etni] dictionaries
- From: "Sharon Tzur" <sharontzu@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "etni" <etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 13 Sep 2003 20:30:41 +0200
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Dear Etniers:
I know I'm raising this issue too late, but...
When I read about the business of 3 pointers who can use a two directional
dictionary for A, but not for other modules, it made me wonder...why can't
all students use two directional dictionaries? What is the point of the
one-direction dictionary policy?
I could understand a policy of NO dictionaries in an English test. If a test
is supposed to show who knows more English and who knows less, the use of a
dictionary, in a certain sense, hurts the accuracy of the test - it is an
equalizer which allows the student who knows less English to come off as
knowing more. (Of course, there is an "other hand" - a student can know a
lot of English, but fails to show it because of a few words here and there
that stand in the way of comprehending a certain passage.)
Of course, in real life, people do use dictionaries, so a person who knows
English and has also been well trained in using a dictionary, in real life,
can function quite well. And the Bagrut wants to test real life skills. But
in real life, we use two way dictionaries - so why are our students limited
to one way dictionaries?
Granted, Hebrew-English dictionaries can be more harmful than helpful when
not used properly. I warned my LD students in the past (those who could use
electronic dictionaries, which are two directional) never to use a word they
looked up in Hebrew unless they are familiar with the word. In one exam,
where the student ignored my advice, she wrote, "There are many
deuteronomys that bother me.." Of course, the Hebrew word she had looked up
was "Dvarim".
However, the Hebrew - English (or Arabic, Russian etc.) can be very
helpful - when a student needs a word in the target language that he does
know, that is on the tip of his tongue, but which he can't recall... when he
wants to check spelling.. (how much easier it is to look up the word
"maspik" if he want to see how to spell "enough" instead of rummaging
through the dictionary looking for various more or less phonetic ways to
spell it.) Why is one way kosher and the other way treif?
One other issue I'd like to bring to people's attention: when the new Chozer
about dictionaries came out, it specifically said that the electronic
dictionaries used by LD students must follow the same criteria as the
regular dictionaries. This will be a problem, since, as far as I know, there
are no one way electronic dictionaries. I have pointed this out to the
pikuach, and was told (if I understood correctly) that LD students will not
be able to use two directional electronic dictionaries in those modules that
call of one way dictionaries. Where will that leave them?
Yours,
Sharon Tzur
My home on the Net
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